Cliff Thorburn | ArmchairGM Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] Biography Clifford Charles Devlin (Cliff) Thorburn (born January 16, 1948 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) is a retired professional snooker player. His slow, determined style of play earned him the nickname The Grinder. Thorburn's finest moment came in the 1980 World Championship. He met Alex Higgins in the final, two personalities that could hardly be more different. Thorburn won the match 18-16 to take the championship, and rose to number two in the world rankings. The BBC's coverage of the final had been interrupted by the broadcast of live footage of the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy. The following season Thorburn reached the number one spot. In 1977 and 1983 he lost in the World final to John Spencer and Steve Davis respectively. In the latter final his wife had miscarried shortly before the match which may partly explain his very heavy defeat by Davis. In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum 147 break at the World Championships.

The achievement took place in a match against Terry Griffiths, and was made more notable by the fact that it stopped the match going on at the tournament's second table: Thorburn's friend and fellow Canadian Bill Werbeniuk wanted to watch the break instead of playing his own match; and joined in the celebrations with Thorburn and Griffiths when the break was completed. That same year, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. During the 2006 World Championships, Thorburn flew to Sheffield to unveil a lifesize painting of his break, by the artist Michael Myers. It is on display at the Macdonald St. Paul's Hotel in Sheffield. [1] Thorburn was fined by World Snooker for using cocaine in 1989 and retired from professional snooker in 1996, but still plays the game. He enters competitions held in Canada. He is the father of two boys, Jamie and Andrew. Statistics Cliff Thorburn Snooker 147 1983 World Championship - YouTube Cliff Thorburn Snooker 147 1983 World Championship Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist.

Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jan 9, 2011 Cliff Thorburn scores the first 147 at the 1983 World Championships. The Canadian made Crucible history when he became the first player to record a 147 in the World Championships. An opening fluked red off the cushion enabled him to achieve the feat in a second round match against Terry Griffiths. As the final black went in, Thorburn sank to his knees and thrust the cue aloft in celebration. Thorburn eventually lost the final 18-6 to an unstoppable Steve Davis -- but etched his name forever in snooker history. Category Maximum break | Snooker Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit The highest break possible is 155. This can occur when an opponent fouls but leaves the player snookered on all 15 reds.

The player can nominate one of the other colours as a red, known as a "free ball", which carries the same value as a red for just that shot. By potting the free ball followed by a colour, then all the reds with colours, and then the colours up to the pink or black, the player can compile a break of more than 147. If the free ball is followed by a black, and the player goes on to clear the table taking all blacks with the reds and then all six colours, the total score for the break is 155. Breaks exceeding 147 Edit At least eight breaks in excess of 147 have been recorded. A 151 is reported to have been compiled by Wally West against Butch Rogers in West London's Hounslow Luciana snooker club during a club match in 1976. After Rogers fouled, Wally took the green as his free ball followed by the brown. He then took 14 red and blacks and a pink off the last red. He then cleared up to make the 151.

In April 1988 Steve Duggan made a 148 in a practice frame against Mark Rowing in Doncaster. In 1993 Stephen Hendry made a 148 in a practice match against Alfie Burden . In 1995 Tony Drago made a 149 in practice against Nick Manning in West Norwood, London in 1995, that was recorded by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest in this category. In that match Drago nominated the brown as the free ball, to score one point. He then potted the brown again, for four more points, before potting 13 reds and 13 blacks, a red and a pink, a red and a blue, then all the colours. In 1997 Eddie Manning achieved a 149 in a practice match against Kam Pandya at Willie Thorne's in Leicester. Like Drago he took brown, brown, 13 blacks, pink and blue. In April 2003 Jamie Cope made a 151 break at The Reardon Snooker Club during a practice game with David Fomm-Ward.

After a foul by his opponent, Cope was snookered behind the brown ball. He took the brown as the free ball and then potted blue, 13 reds with blacks and two with pinks, then the six colours. In October 2004, during qualifying for the UK Championship , Jamie Burnett achieved a 148 against Leo Fernandez , becoming the first player to achieve a break of more than 147 in professional competition. He took the brown as the free ball and then potted the brown again, followed by the 15 reds with 12 blacks, two pinks and a blue, then the six colours. Prizes Edit In professional tournaments, there is usually a substantial prize awarded to any player achieving a 147 break, typically was an amount containing "147", e.g. £147, £1,470, £14,700 or £147,000 depending on the prestige of the tournament.

As an extreme case, Ronnie O'Sullivan 's 1997 maximum earned him £165,000 (£147,000 of this was for making the 147 break and another £18,000 was for achieving the highest break of the tournament). In six-red snooker only the fastest maximum earns a prize money. List of official maximum 147s in professional competition In 1983, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championships , a feat that has since been repeated by Jimmy White , Stephen Hendry (twice), Ronnie O'Sullivan (three times), Mark Williams and Ali Carter . Hendry and O'Sullivan are the only players to have made a maximum break during the World Championships and then go on to win the title – Hendry in 1995 and O'Sullivan in 2008 O'Sullivan compiled each of the five fastest 147 breaks ever recorded, the fastest of which took 5 minutes and 20 seconds recorded in the 1st round of the 1997 World Championship .

Michael White compiled the fastest 75 break, it took 2 minutes and 28 seconds in the group stage of the 2009 Six-red World Championship . Hendry, O'Sullivan and Mark Williams are the only players who have made maximums to win matches. Hendry compiled a maximum in the final at the 1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge winning him the title, Williams at the 2005 World Championship , and O'Sullivan at the 2007 UK Championship and 2008 World Championship . Two of these were made in the deciding frame of the match: Hendry's in the 1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge final and O'Sullivan's maximum at the 2007 UK Championship in the semi-final. Only Hendry and John Higgins have made maximums in finals of tournaments. Hendry has made three, the first in the final of the 1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge, the second at the 1999 British Open and the third at the 2001 Malta Grand Prix . Higgins made a maximum in the final of the 2003 LG Cup .

Higgins became the first and only player to record a 147 in successive ranking events and matches; he made one in his 9–5 defeat by Mark Williams in the LG Cup final at Preston, and then one in his first match at the British Open , both in 2003. Higgins' maximum breaks at the 2003 LG Cup and 2004 Grand Prix made him the first and only player to record maximums in the same tournament in successive years (the LG Cup being the sponsor's name for that year's Grand Prix). Since Higgins made the maximums in the 2003 final and the 2004 first round, he made maximums in successive rounds of the same tournament but not at the same event. The youngest player to make an official 147 in professional competition is Stephen Maguire at the 2000 Scottish Open qualifiers just a week after his 19th birthday. The youngest player to have made a televised 147 is Ding Junhui , who was 19 years and 7 months at the time, in the 2007 Masters .

The youngest player to make a 147 in the televised stages of a ranking event was Jamie Cope at 21 years and 1 month old at the 2006 Grand Prix . The oldest player to make a maximum in professional competition is Cliff Thorburn, who was 41 during the 1989 Matchroom League . The oldest player to have made a 147 in a world ranking event is Stephen Hendry, who made his maximum break at the 2009 World Championship at the age of 40. On April 29, 2008 Ali Carter made his first 147 break against Peter Ebdon in their quarter-final match of the 2008 World Championships . This was the first time a 147 break had been made twice in the same professional tournament at the same venue, following O'Sullivan's maximum during the previous day's play. Two maximum breaks were previously compiled by Stephen Hendry and John Parrott during the 1992 Matchroom League but at different venues.

Cliff Thorburn is the first player to have made more than one competitive maximum break and Stephen Hendry is the first player to have made more than one televised maximum break. Joe Swail compiled the first competitive maximum break to be made on the Continent, during a Belgian tournament in Brussels in December 1993. He was playing R. Melkenbeek, a local amateur. List of matches where more than one 147 was compiled The First World Championships Maximum (147 Break by Cliff Thorburn in 1983) | Snooker Videos | PubSnooker.com The First World Championships Maximum (147 Break by Cliff Thorburn in 1983) The First World Championships Maximum (147 Break by Cliff Thorburn in 1983) Cliff Thorburn made the first World Snooker Championships 147 break (Maximum) on 23rd April 1983 against Terry Griffiths. The Canadian's maximum took over 30 minutes to complete, maybe the slowest in history, and was famous for the fluked red that started the break. Cliff Thorburn made one more 147 in 1989.

The Grinder won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, the first non-British player to do so, and was runner-up twice (1977 & 1983). He is a former World number 1 too. The video skips through the first few reds quickly because of the time taken to complete this break. The final few balls are shown in full. The Fastest Ever 147 by Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan Watch Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan hit the fastest ever maximum break (147) in only 5mins 20secs! That's a perfect break, 15 reds with 15 backs followed by the yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black in the time it takes Ebdon to pick up his cue! This... Jimmy White showing off his cue power with extreme screw as he wins his 1984 Masters semi-final match - back when snooker was watched by tens of millions in the UK.

The 1985 World Snooker Championship Final Reviewed The 1985 World Snooker Championship Final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor is the most thrilling and the most epic of epic matches ever. Hear Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor talk you through the closing moments of the greatest snooker final in history.... The 1985 World Snooker Championship Final Frame (Part 1) Watch the final frame of the 1985 World Snooker Championship final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor. Watch and feel the tension and atmosphere grow to levels never seen before in a snooker match as the epic final goes to the wire, the final black in t... Watch the final frame of the 1985 World Snooker Championship final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor. This is it, the final few balls causing more problems then ever before in a final, and Dennis Taylor's unforgettable celebrations. The First Televised Maximum (147 Break by Steve Davis in 1982) Steve Davis made the first televised 147 break (Maximum) on 11th Jan 1982 in the Lada Classic against John Spencer.

The Nugget (also known as the Ginger Magician) went on to dominate the 1980s and become one of the greatest ever snooker players and was sti... The First World Championships Maximum (147 Break by Cliff Thorburn in 1983) Cliff Thorburn made the first World Snooker Championships 147 break (Maximum) on 23rd April 1983 against Terry Griffiths. The Canadian's maximum took over 30 minutes to complete, maybe the slowest in history, and was famous for the fluked red that started... Maximum Break (147 Break by Jimmy White in 1992) Jimmy White made this 147 maximum in the World Snooker Championships on 22nd April 1992 against Tony Drago. This was The Whirlwind's only maximum in his long and unfortunate career. Jimmy, known as the people's champion, had bad fortune in the World Champi...

Maximum Break (147 Break by Stephen Hendry in 1997) Stephen Hendry made this 147 maximum break in the Charity Challenge on 5th January 1997 against Ronnie O'Sullivan. This 147 was remarkable as it was in the deciding frame in the final of the championship. If that wasn't enough, Hendry was leading 8-2 in th... Cliff Thorburn (Snooker Player) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Cliff Thorburn Male Born Jan 16, 1948 Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM, known as Cliff Thorburn is a retired professional Canadian snooker player. A former world number one (one of only nine players to hold that spot), he was world snooker champion in 1980, one of only three players from outside the United Kingdom to win the world title in the modern era.

In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to compile a maximum break at the world championships.… Read More related links Snooker Legend Cliff Thorburn Hands Out Awards Burnley Express - Jun 17, 2012 ' FORMER World champion <mark>Cliff Thorburn</mark> was the special guest at the D&amp;D Burnley Snooker League presentation night at Dickie Pinks. ' Snooker Legends On Their Way To Peterborough Peterborough Today Google News - Sep 07, 2011 'Bond, from Derbyshire, ripped up the form book in January to win the Sky Shoot Out in Blackpool and <mark>Cliff Thorburn</mark>, world champion in 1980, will face fellow Canadian Alain Robidoux. New Zealander Dene O&#39;Kane against Neal Foulds, a former world number' Mark Selby Nummer 1 Zonder Grote Titels?

Blog.Nl (Blog) Google News - Sep 02, 2011 'Overigens zou Selby pas de negende nummer 1 worden sinds de invoering van het rankingsysteem in 1976. Eerder viel die eer te beurt aan Ray Reardon, <mark>Cliff Thorburn</mark>, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ronnie O&#39;Sullivan en Neil' Spelers Onder 45 Niet Meer Welkom Op Wk Senioren Blog.Nl (Blog) Google News - Aug 31, 2011 'Aan die eerste editie namen met Johnson (nu 59 jaar), Dennis Taylor (62) en <mark>Cliff Thorburn</mark> (63) slechts drie spelers deel die al geruime tijd met pensioen waren. Zij waren bij voorbaat kansloos tegen de overige deelnemers, die nog actief waren op de' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Cliff Thorburn.

CHILDHOOD 1948 Birth Born on January 16, 1948. TWENTIES 1974 26 Years Old The same year he won the pro-am Canadian Open Championship; he had previously won the tournament in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977. 1977 29 Years Old … He is one of two snooker players inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the other being George Chenier. His slow, determined style of play earned him the nickname "The Grinder". <br /><br />Thorburn first went to England to play snooker professionally in the early 70s. He had met John Spencer in Canada, who had advised him to go to the UK to improve his game. Read Less He was runner up in the world championship in 1977, and was soon considered a contender for tournaments. THIRTIES Show Less … Clifford Charles Devlin "Cliff" Thorburn (born January 16, 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player.

Read Less He won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, the first player outside the United Kingdom to win the title in the sport's modern era. … Read More He was also ranked number one that year. Read Less Thorburn's finest moment came in the 1980 World Championship. … Read More He met Alex Higgins in the final, a personality that could hardly have been more different from his own. Thorburn won the match 18-16 to take the championship, and rose to number two in the world rankings. The BBC's coverage of the final had been interrupted by the broadcast of live footage of the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy.<br /><br /> The following season Thorburn reached number one in the world rankings. Read Less In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to compile a maximum break at the World Championship. In 1983, Thorburn was made a Member of the Order of Canada. … Read More That same year, he became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championships. He compiled the break in the fourth frame of his second round match against Terry Griffiths (a match he went on to win 13-12).

Whilst completing the break, play stopped on the tournament's second table because Thorburn's friend and fellow Canadian Bill Werbeniuk wanted to watch him complete the break. He subsequently went on to reach the final, but lost to then world number 1 Steve Davis. His wife had a miscarriage during his semi-final and partly explains his eventual heavy defeat by Davis in the final. Thorburn himself refused to blame this for his loss, instead citing that he was fatigued after his three back-to-back final frame victories; 13-12 win over Terry Griffiths in the Second Round, 13-12 win over Kirk Stevens in the quarter finals and a gruelling 16-15 victory (from 13-15 behind) in his semi-final against Tony Knowles, which finished at 2:30am and left him physically exhausted before the final commenced later that same day; Thorburn stated that, following the early morning finish against Knowles, he simply had nothing left for the final less than thirteen hours later against the in-form Steve Davis, who eventually defeated Thorburn 18-6, with a session to spare.

Read Less Thorburn was three times the Benson and Hedges Masters Champion, the most prestigious non-ranking event on the snooker calendar for many years. The event was held at the Wembley Conference Centre near London, England, which is where Thorburn lifted the title on three occasions winning in 1983 beating Ray Reardon 9-7 in the final, 1985 beating Doug Mountjoy 9-6 and in 1986 beating Jimmy White 9-5. … Read More Thorburn was the first player to retain the Masters title. Read Less 1984 36 Years Old During the 1984/85 season Thorburn enjoyed a resurgence in form. … Read More He made the final of the Rothmans Grand Prix losing to Dennis Taylor 10-2 in the Final. The highlight of the tournament was Thorburn's 9-7 victory over Steve Davis in the Semi-Final. Thorburn played outstanding snooker to overcome his great rival and the victory came unexpectedly because at that time Davis was in outstanding form.

Read Less History of Snooker - World Snooker History of Snooker Fu on FIRE as he sets up O'Sullivan Semi Final History of Snooker The History of Snooker It is 140 years since a young officer in the British Army, experimenting on a billiard table, came up with the game we now know as snooker. At the 2015 World Championship the best players on the planet were competing for a top prize of £300,000, watched by nearly half a billion people around the globe. Two of snooker’s leading journalists, Hector Nunns and David Hendon, plot snooker’s course from small beginnings to a major international sport… INDIA, BIRTHPLACE OF SNOOKER The first ever Indian Open ranking tournament was staged in New Delhi in 2013, an occasion celebrated with gusto throughout the snooker world. This was partly due to the emergence of two fine professional players from that country, eventual finalist Aditya Mehta and former billiards champion Pankaj Advani, with the prospect of plenty more to follow.

However it also provided the perfect opportunity to reflect upon the very origins of the sport 138 years earlier, with the game having been invented in 1875 by the British Army in the Indian town of Jubbulpore (or Jabalpur, as it is now known) situated around 450 miles south-east of the capital. According to author and essayist Compton MacKenzie in his account in ‘The Billiard Player’ magazine of 1939, young lieutenant Neville Chamberlain (not the former British Prime Minister) was experimenting on the officers’ mess table with the existing game of ‘Black Pool’ featuring 15 red balls and a black. Having thrown on additional coloured balls and heard that rookie cadets at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich were called ‘snookers’, Chamberlain observed that all those present were snookers at this tweaked version of the game, and the name instantly stuck. His Devonshire regiment, which later became the Devonshire and Dorset and are now known as the Rifles, remain fiercely proud to this day of their role in the invention of snooker.

Neville Chamberlain Soon after, Chamberlain was based in the Tamil Nadu hill station of Ootacamund – or ‘Snooty Ooty’, as the exclusive mountain retreat was often known. And such was the young officer’s enthusiasm for his new game there that he even named his horse ‘Snooker’. The further development of the sport took place in the colonial-style Ooty Club, very much a part of snooker folklore and somewhere that current World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn insists remains on his ‘bucket list’ to visit. The club features an original snooker table from the period in use today and walls still thick with tiger, leopard and deer hunting trophies – and it was from here that word and rules of the new game circulated throughout India and the former British Empire. Membership of the club at that time was restricted to “officers of the armed forces, and gentlemen moving in general society”, though luckily for most, those rules have since been eased.

Rumours of this new phenomenon had reached Great Britain and aside from the birth of a certain Joe Davis in 1901 – more of whom later – the years that followed saw snooker slowly grow in the United Kingdom, cue manufacturer and billiards player John Roberts Jr helping to spread the gospel after a trip to India. Around 1910, century breaks were attributed to Scot Tom Aiken, a billiards champion, Cecil Harverson, Phil Morris of Tottenham and Lucania Hall manager George Hargest. The first amateur snooker championship was staged during the Great War, with the result at that time decided by points aggregate after seven frames – a very early precursor to the shorter format of the modern-day European and Asian Tour series. Snooker’s rules, which had featured inconsistencies, were finally dragged together in 1919, also the year that the re-spotted black was introduced to ensure each frame had a winner. How much drama that innovation has produced over the years, and still does to this day. With a number of established amateurs, it took a man who would become snooker’s first superstar to usher in the age of professionalism.

JOE DAVIS AND PROFESSIONALISM Snooker’s next era belonged to one man only – the incomparable and all-conquering Joe Davis. The others involved as professionalism took a hold were more often than not bit-parts in the Joe show and they knew it, with varying levels of resentment. However the years from the mid-1920s unquestionably also marked an exciting phase in the game’s emergence and saw it challenge and overtake the more established game of billiards in the UK, with matches drawing crowds in the thousands. Joe, along with younger brother Fred, was born in Whitwell, Derbyshire just past the turn of the century – sons of a miner who turned publican at the Queens Hotel, Whittington Moor which crucially housed a full-size billiards table. And Joe would go on to become a strong contender for the tag of greatest player of all time with his incredible longevity at the top and unmatched exploits on the table. He won 15 world titles in succession, the last coming after World War Two. He was also the driving force behind the first professional World Championship in 1927, the forerunner of today’s tournament that will be watched by hundreds of millions around the globe.

The famous silver trophy that will be held aloft by this year’s champion on May 5 has not changed – bar a few extra names engraved in the intervening years. Though weaned on billiards and like many others initially looking down on the new sport Joe, a financial pragmatist, immediately saw snooker’s greater earning potential. When he claimed victory from a field of 10 entrants in that 1927 final at Camkin’s Hall, Birmingham, 20-11 against Tom Dennis, the man unable to focus with his right eye and variously called the ‘Sultan of Snooker’ and the ‘Emperor of Pot’ pocketed a princely £6 10s. Sidney Smith, another son of the Derbyshire snooker hotbed of the time, became the first man to make a total clearance (136) at the Daily Mail Gold Cup in 1939.

And the first post-WWII World Championship final between Joe and Australian Horace Lindrum, won 78-67 by the Englishman at the Royal Horticultural Hall to sell-out crowds of 1,200 twice a day for a fortnight, represented a peak leading to almost inevitable decline in interest and commercial sway. Fred won the first of his eight world titles in 1948, and the BBC, who are again providing the pictures from this year’s Crucible action, made their debut outside broadcast coverage of snooker from Leicester Square Hall in 1950. In 1952 a boycott by most of the top players left only two entrants. Lindrum beat New Zealander Clark McConachy 94-49 at Houldsworth Hall in Manchester in a ‘world final’ contest recognised by virtually nobody, though Lindrum’s family were still protesting he was the first Australian to win it when Neil Robertson lifted the trophy in 2010.

And on January 22 1955 Joe, also referred to as the ‘Grandfather of Snooker’, became the first man to have a 147 maximum break officially recognised in an exhibition against Willie Smith that effectively also brought the curtain down on Leicester Square Hall, formerly Thurston’s (a table manufacturer) and an iconic playing venue for half a century. Joe, having already produced at least two coaching manuals, brought out in 1956 the definitive ‘How I Play Snooker’, a sacred text of technical know-how that has since been described as “the bible” for all players by six-time world champion and namesake Steve Davis, handed the book by his father Bill. One of the 56-year-old’s only unfulfilled career ambitions remains to bring out a tome to rival it. However, Joe’s decision to retire from the World Championship in 1946 but continue to play in tournaments and exhibitions seriously devalued the game’s premier event as everyone knew the best player wasn’t in it. It led to a decade of decline before the sport was rescued by a medium which would herald a new dawn.

THE AGE OF COLOUR In July 1969, man first walked on the moon and, that same month, snooker took its own giant leap, which would lay the groundwork for the professional circuit as we know it today. Pot Black was a weekly series designed to showcase the BBC’s new colour service. The controller of BBC2 was David Attenborough, who would become a broadcasting legend through his ground-breaking natural history programmes. He wanted content which could emphasise colour. Snooker, which also had the advantage of being easy to cover, fitted the bill perfectly. Ted Lowe, a former manager of Leicester Square Hall in London, who had lent whispering commentaries to snooker shown by the BBC in black and white, devised the format and eight professionals were invited to play. The series was a huge hit and players quickly became well known, which in turn boosted their capacity to earn money from exhibitions. Joe Davis, John Spencer, Ray Reardon and John Pulman All this had seemed unlikely in 1957 when snooker’s very future appeared doomed when the World Championship was discontinued through lack of interest.

It had been revived by Rex Williams in 1964 and played as a series of challenge matches, all seven of which were won by John Pulman. In 1968, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association was established and the following year the championship reverted back to a knockout format. John Spencer won it in 1969 but Ray Reardon, a former miner and policeman, would dominate the 1970s, winning six world titles. Reardon was the period’s leading player but its star was a young Northern Irishman whose lightning fast skills had been honed in the Jampot club in Belfast. Alex Higgins was a firebrand whose very being seemed destined to challenge the establishment on and off the table. He won the world title at his first attempt in 1972, pocketing a first prize of £480, and spectators packed into exhibitions to watch him play. It was ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, despite his bad behaviour, or maybe because of it, who gained snooker popularity and publicity in this time where Pot Black was still the sport’s main TV outlet.

Sponsors, particularly from the tobacco industry, started to take notice and the BBC increased its coverage with highlights from the World Championship and a new invitation event, the Masters. As Reardon, Spencer and Higgins led the way on the table, things were moving forward behind the scenes under the astute stewardship of Mike Watterson, an independent promoter who was savvy enough to realise the sport’s potential as television exposure created increased sponsorship opportunities. The World Championship had been played in various outposts, including Australia, before Watterson looked for a new home for the 1977 tournament, ideally an intimate set-up which could become a permanent venue for the sport’s Blue Riband event. One night his wife, Carol, returned from seeing a play at a theatre in Sheffield which she thought may fit the bill. And so the stage was set for snooker’s transformation from relative obscurity to front page news as the game hit the heights like never before. DAVIS AT THE HEAD OF THE SNOOKER BOOM The Crucible stands in the middle of Sheffield city centre.

For 50 weeks of the year this theatre-in-the-round stages great dramatic works, but for 17 days annually it becomes a sporting hub where careers are defined and dreams are made or shattered. John Spencer triumphed at the 1977 championship there before Ray Reardon won his sixth world title the following year. 1978 had seen the BBC considerably increase its coverage of the tournament and they were rewarded with stellar viewing figures. In a decade, only Alex Higgins had successfully challenged the Reardon/Spencer grip on the World Championship but the old order was to be irrevocably broken in 1979. Terry Griffiths’s triumph as a qualifier in his first season as a professional acted as a catalyst for many amateurs to take a chance on the pro ranks. One ginger-haired Londoner had already made the leap. Steve Davis of Plumstead was a shy but dedicated player tutored by his father, Bill, and managed by an extrovert businessman called Barry Hearn, who ran a chain of Lucania snooker clubs. Steve Davis As the 1980s dawned, Davis and Hearn set about cleaning up on and off the table.

Davis’s first major success came at the 1980 UK Championship and he ended the season by winning the world title, Hearn barrelling across the Crucible stage and nearly knocking him over in jubilant celebration. With the world champion under his wing, Hearn began to see the possibilities of snooker outside of mere results. With a natural touch for the popular he began to build his Matchroom empire by signing more players and promoting independent tournaments. These were golden years. All over the UK, snooker clubs were opening and a vibrant amateur scene began breeding the stars of the future. ITV had enviously viewed the BBC’s audience figures and began televising its own events. Thus, a professional circuit built up and prize money rocketed. Sponsors were lining up to invest in a sport which the British public watched like a soap opera, with its distinct cast of characters, many of whom found their private lives the subject of unwanted attention from a tabloid press also riding the boom. Higgins was inevitably the subject of many of these stories.

The volatile bad boy of the baize won an emotional second world title in 1982, tearfully beckoning his wife and baby daughter on to the Crucible stage in the moments following his 18-15 victory over Reardon. Cliff Thorburn had become the first non-British world champion in 1980 and made the Crucible’s first 147 break in 1983, a year before another Canadian, Kirk Stevens, made one at the Masters. Jimmy White, who had won the world amateur title at the age of 18, missed out on a world final place in 1982 when Higgins made a miraculous clearance of 69 while trailing 15-14 in their semi-final before winning the decider. White fought back from 12-4 down to Davis in the 1984 final but was beaten 18-16. Davis was indeed the man to beat. He made the first televised maximum break at the 1982 Lada Classic, captured six UK Championship crowns and spent seven years as world number one.

However, he was on the wrong end of the most famous snooker match of the boom years. In 1985, he built an 8-0 lead over Dennis Taylor in the world final and was apparently coasting to a third straight title. Taylor, a Northern Irishman who wore large ‘upside down’ spectacles, fought back and at 11pm they were level at 17-17 with one more frame to play. It lasted over an hour and came down to the final black. Davis had a chance to pot it but missed, leaving Taylor to sink it. 18.5 million viewers were still watching BBC2, a record audience to this day for the channel and for any UK programme broadcast after midnight. Despite this reverse, and one to 150-1 pre-tournament hopeful Joe Johnson in 1986, Davis, like snooker itself, remained imperious throughout the 1980s. In 1989, he crushed John Parrott 18-3 to win a sixth world title. He seemed unstoppable, but a young man from Scotland had other ideas.

THE HENDRY YEARS Every so often in sport there comes along an individual who not only dominates rivals in competition, but introduces a whole new dimension and changes the way a game is played – and Scotland’s Stephen Hendry was to prove just such a figure in snooker. Born in South Queensferry, Hendry was bought a small table by his parents as an afterthought at the age of 12. On such twists of fate are legends formed. He swiftly served notice of a growing force with wins at the Scottish Under-16 and Scottish amateur level, turning professional at the tender age of just 16 years and three months. By the time Hendry retired in 2012, he had set records that may never be broken, and built up a glittering and trophy-laden CV, not least with his achievements on the greatest stage of all, the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre. Hendry’s legacy will therefore not only be title triumphs and memories, but the certainty that many of those now at the top of the game were hugely influenced by what they saw him doing on the table in his pomp, the shots he played and the attacking approach to break-building and single-visit snooker he espoused.

Stephen Hendry With the world waiting for someone to inherit the Steve Davis mantle, Hendry – with manager Ian Doyle guiding his career – unhesitatingly leapt up to the plate. The early milestones came and went. There was a first Crucible appearance at 17, famously being applauded off by Willie Thorne after losing 10-8. And a first ranking title in 1987, as Hendry beat Dennis Taylor 10-7 at the Grand Prix. The dominance truly began in the 1989-90 season, culminating in a first world title – and Hendry, now 45, remains at the time of writing the youngest player to win it at 21 years 106 days. Six further times Hendry lifted the trophy at the Crucible, and inevitably his series of finals against People’s Champion Jimmy White are the best remembered, with the Scot often unfairly cast in the role of the hunter who killed Bambi’s mother.

Four times he snatched the prize away from the Whirlwind, including the remarkable ten frames in a row to win 18-14 in 1992, and the ice-cool 58 clearance to win 18-17 in 1994 with a broken bone in his arm after White had missed a black off the spot in the decider. In these and other successes Hendry was fearless, aggressive, ruthless, focused and determined – and executed tough shots under the most intense pressure time and time again. And he never forgot the trailblazing he was doing for Scottish snooker, walked in by a piper with Alan McManus for their all-Tartan 1993 Crucible semi-final. Not all of Hendry’s finest moments came in Sheffield, though. In 1994 he made seven century breaks in the UK Championship final, beating Ken Doherty 10-5 in Preston. And in 1997 he recovered from losing six frames in a row in the final of the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge to come out at 8-8 and win the match against Ronnie O’Sullivan with a 147 maximum break.

While it is possible O’Sullivan could get to Hendry’s mark of seven world titles and 775 career centuries, the 36 ranking titles record looks secure for all time as does the 27 consecutive appearances in the final stages of the blue-riband tournament in Sheffield. Victories over Hendry in big matches at or near his peak were rare, hard-earned and for that reason all the more special. Just ask Ken Doherty what beating him in the Crucible final meant in 1997, or Peter Ebdon with his ‘revenge’ showpiece victory in 2002 after losing in the 1996 final. John Parrott and John Higgins also claimed world titles in the 1990s. Hendry also remains the last snooker player to seriously figure in the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year poll, coming second only to Paul Gascoigne in 1990. For many, Hendry gets the nod as the greatest player of all time – but like all reigns his was to end, with a group of players he inspired seizing the initiative.

THE GOLDEN CROP BEAR FRUIT While Stephen Hendry was taking snooker to another level in the early 1990s, a trio of teenagers were taking their first steps on the professional circuit, the start of a journey which would propel all three to the top of the sport. The circuit had gradually grown from a handful of professionals to 128 players, but in 1991 the WPBSA decided to throw the pro ranks open to anyone willing to pay the entry fees. Suddenly there were 700 professionals, a revolution which swept away many of the now ageing characters who were such an important part of the 1980s boom. Ronnie O’Sullivan’s name was known long before he turned professional. His father, Ronnie senior, instilled in him a disciplined practice routine from boyhood and brought leading amateurs to the family home to play his son on their full sized table. O’Sullivan cut a swathe through the amateur ranks and won 74 of his 76 qualifying matches in his debut season, 1992/93.

Snooker had decamped to the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool for a long summer of preliminary rounds and O’Sullivan emerged as the undoubted star. Remarkably, a year later he beat Hendry 10-6 in the UK Championship final the week before he turned 18, becoming the youngest ever ranking event winner. His performances were often dazzling. At the 1997 World Championship he made a 147 break in a record time of just five minutes, 20 seconds. Ronnie O’Sullivan O’Sullivan had the world at his feet. But away from the table, he struggled from depression, triggered by his father’s life conviction for murder. O’Sullivan’s magisterial performances on the baize were therefore coupled with erratic behaviour, disciplinary action and constant threats to retire. He did not win his first world title until he was 25, in 2001. A second followed in 2004 and third in 2008. After his fourth in 2012 he finally went through with his threat to walk away, taking a year off, apart from one minor event.

However, the time away proved to O’Sullivan that snooker was still in his blood. He returned to win a fifth world title in 2013. With four UK and five Masters titles, plus a record 12 maximum breaks, his claim to be the greatest ever was strengthened in his late 30s, when most players decline. He could have won more but for his two contemporaries, John Higgins and Mark Williams, the other celebrated members of the class of 1992. Higgins, an all-round player in the Steve Davis mould, was the first of the three to win the world title. His 1998 triumph saw him end fellow Scot Hendry’s eight-year reign as world number one. Higgins, who had won three ranking titles while still a teenager, was a regular tournament winner but it took him nine years to capture a second world title. He quickly won two more, in 2009 and 2011, as well as three UK titles and the Masters twice. Williams became the third Welshman and first left-hander to win the World Championship in 2000.

In 2003, he won a thrilling contest with Ken Doherty 18-16 to complete a clean sweep of that season’s three major titles, having already captured a second UK Championship and second Masters, a feat only previously accomplished by Davis and Hendry. Laid back off the table, Williams was ruthless on it, his mettle having been proven by edging Hendry 10-9 on a re-spotted black in the 1998 Masters final. O’Sullivan, Higgins and Williams were products of the 1980s UK snooker boom. They were inspired by the blanket TV coverage, played in the sundry junior and amateur events and climbed their way up from the bottom rung of the qualifying ladder to the very top. From 1998 to 2013 they won 11 of the 16 World Championships between them. They were the leading lights as snooker entered a new millennium, which would see the sport exploring new global opportunities. SNOOKER GOES GLOBAL Despite its British roots, professional snooker made several forays to foreign climes before travelling became the norm for top players.

South Africa staged challenge matches in the 1960s, the 1975 World Championship was played in Australia, there were regular tournaments in Canada in the 1970s and in the 1980s Barry Hearn’s Matchroom led the way in spreading the gospel to countries such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. The first ranking event staged outside the UK was the 1988 Canadian Masters. There were European Opens in France, the Netherlands and Belgium and an Asian Open in China in 1990. Thailand became a regular and popular stopping off point for the circuit in the 1990s after the emergence of James Wattana, who won three ranking titles, including his home event on two occasions. It was not until the new millennium however that snooker’s global reach was truly explored thanks to a Chinese teenager and a pan European broadcaster. Ding Junhui had been touted as a star of the future from a very young age but found the UK-based qualifying set-up tough. He was withdrawn from the 2005 China Open in Beijing and then re-entered as a wildcard.

Sensationally, just days after turning 18, he won the tournament, beating Stephen Hendry 9-5 in the final. 110 million viewers watched on Chinese television and it sparked a boom similar to the one the UK had enjoyed two decades earlier. Meanwhile, Eurosport, which had showed snooker sporadically for years, signed a deal to broadcast every major event, bringing the sport to viewers in 61 countries, many of them completely new to the game. Like British audiences, they had a cast of characters to which to warm. O’Sullivan, Higgins and Williams remained the holy trinity but there were world titles too for Peter Ebdon (2002), Shaun Murphy as a qualifier (2005) and Graeme Dott (2006). Ding won two UK titles and Neil Robertson of Australia emerged as a top player, eventually triumphing at the Crucible in 2010. At the Masters, Paul Hunter won three dramatic finals, all in deciding frame finishes having been behind each time. Hunter’s easy going manner, good looks and genuine humility made him a popular new star and his performances helped keep snooker in the spotlight.

Everyone in the sport was devastated when he died from a rare form of cancer in 2006 at the age of only 27. Off table things were less rosy. The UK government had prohibited tobacco companies from sponsoring sport, which helped create a huge hole in snooker’s finances and, despite the increasing global interest, the circuit began to shrink. There was nothing wrong with snooker on the table but its administration needed a serious overhaul to maximise its popularity. The task fell to a man synonymous with the game’s boom years of the 1980s. THE HEARN REVOLUTION Today in 2014 snooker stands as a truly global sport, its tentacles forever reaching into new territories. It is played in 90 countries by over 120 million people, and watched by 450 million worldwide. One of the fastest-growing sports on the planet is also knocking on the door for future inclusion in the Olympic Games. But just a few short years ago the game stood at a major crossroads, having seen the number of full ranking tournaments drop to six, and with leading professionals voicing concerns that their lack of earning opportunities were rendering them little more than ‘part-timers’.

Ronnie O’Sullivan, speaking in 2009 as the situation came to a head, called for a ‘Simon Cowell’ figure to step in and save snooker. As it turned out, that man was Barry Hearn. Former WPBSA and World Snooker chairman Sir Rodney Walker effectively held a vote of confidence in his own regime in December of 2009, and the membership voted 32-24 against his re-election, paving the way for Hearn to assume control. And having been voted on as WPBSA chairman Hearn, determined to succeed in a sport that had kick-started his own career, asked for a mandate from the players to take the commercial rights and move it forward. Barry Hearn Owner of Leyton Orient Football Club, a successful darts and boxing promoter and manager of Steve Davis and formerly a large stable of snooker stars at Matchroom in the 1980s, Hearn pledged in a series of frank exchanges with the players, many of them highly sceptical, to put on more events and increase prize money and earning opportunities.

In a crucial vote in the summer of 2010, Hearn squeaked home by 35 votes to 29. The revolution might easily not have happened, with the new World Snooker supremo insisting he would have walked away had he lost. And he has delivered what was promised in a way that has seen even previously outspoken opponents among the players admit they were wrong, making the regular Players Tour Championship series in Europe and Asia an important part of the calendar. From six full ranking tournaments and a total prize fund for the season of £3.5million in 2009-10, in 2014/15 there were 11 – in addition to the Masters, 9 more European and Asian Tour events, the Champion of Champions, the World Grand Prix, the World Seniors, and the quick-fire, single-frame Shootout in Blackpool. Total prize money now tops £8million. There have been new tournaments put on in Germany, China, Thailand, Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Latvia and India.

The years have not been without controversy, with some leading players resistant to the removal of protection previously afforded to the top 16, not least coming in at the 128-man stage rather than the last-32 round – but Hearn and WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson have never wavered in their view that this is how a democratic and properly run sport should operate, along the golf and tennis models. Many within the sport expect India to be the ‘new China’, but if one thing is certain it is that India – where snooker was born in the 19th Century, coming full circle this season – will not be the last new stop on the global route planner as a game which began so humbly continues to fascinate hundreds of millions around the world. Latest News Masters 2018 Tickets On Sale Monday Stay Connected Cliff Thorburn | Snooker Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia 1980 Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM, known as Cliff Thorburn (born January 16, 1948 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a retired professional Canadian snooker player.

A former world number one (one of only seven players to hold that spot), he was world snooker champion in 1980, one of only three players from outside the United Kingdom to win the world title in the modern era (along with Ken Doherty and Neil Robertson ). In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to compile a 147 maximum break at the world championships. His slow, determined style of play earned him the nickname "The Grinder". External links

Question: In 1983 who became the first snooker player to make a 147 break at the World Championships?
Answer: CLIFF THORBURN